With Oregon facing rampant public drug use, lawmakers backpedal on pioneering decriminalization law
With Oregon facing rampant public drug use, lawmakers backpedal on pioneering decriminalization law
Democratic lawmakers in Oregon have unveiled a sweeping new bill that would undo a key part of the state's first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization law.
Democratic lawmakers in Oregon on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping new bill that would undo a key part of the state’s first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization law, a recognition that public opinion has soured on the measure amid rampant public drug use during the fentanyl crisis.
The bill would recriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs as a low-level misdemeanor, enabling police to confiscate them and crack down on their use on sidewalks and in parks, its authors said. It also aims to make it easier to prosecute dealers, to access addiction treatment medication, and to obtain and keep housing without facing discrimination for using that medication.
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End the failed war on drugs already.
B- but then people might use drugs more openly and be more forthright in admitting they have an addiction, and I'll have to look at them! We had better just throw them all in jail instead. That always works.
Do you think kids should be subjected to people shooting up drugs when playing outside or when going to school?
I am anti drug war personally but if any situation led to it being easier for kids to be subjected to that, that seems like a worse world.
Wont someone think of the children!?!??!?!?!!??!?!?!??!
Very "Hello fellow kids" kinda comment with that "im anti drug war..." part
Beyond all that, countries like Netherlands have safe injection sites where users can get clean needles, be in a safe space for consumption, test kits for safety, and monitors to watch for accidental overdoses.
Oregon doesn’t have that kind of funding or ability to organize. Portland is a massive shit-show of mismanagement.
I don’t want drug use to be a crime either, but ffs this isn’t the way.
Harm reduction sites already exist in Portland and provide many of those services. The US justice department has traditionally been a block for doing more.
The drugs laws in place since the 80s have essentially made providing any type of support to a drug user in the United States a federal offense. This is why safe injection sites in New York City took decades to open and essentially opened in defiance of Federal rulings against such sites source. Corporate Counsel for the City of New York has essentially dared the Federal government to come stop them citing a public health emergency in preventing overdoses, and the U.S. Attorney (Prosecutor) for the Southern District of NY (where the sites are) promising swift enforcement (which has yet to materialize) source
I'm glad the second article got into the history a bit. Regardless of what the prosecutor is saying, the Biden DoJ has signaled more openness, but the election could change things quickly.
That doesn’t mean the funds have been used appropriately.
All these negative effects are consequences of the war on drugs, not the drugs themselves. If society treats drug addicts as patients instead of as criminals, things get better. This has worked every time it's been tried. The only reason it isn't done in a larger scale is people who benefit from the war on drugs preventing it.
Do you think if we stop the war on drugs, that will reduce the number of homeless drug addicted people? I don't think it will. There's need to be more to it than that, otherwise you're literally not preparing for the 2nd half of that foot drop.
I largely agree alot of these problems are a result of criminalizing drug use but decriminizing doesn't solve some of these problems with homeless folks which is probably more related to mental health services.
Ending the war on drugs will not solve every problem. But at least things will stop getting worse. And it'll make it far easier to tackle all the other problems.
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Haha awesome way to avoid having to answer and also attacking someone for no good reason at the same time. Your comments really contribute.
Avoid having to answer? Are you proposing that "Do you think kids should be subjected to people shooting up drugs when playing outside or when going to school?" was a sincere question?
I think it’s kind of a loaded question yeah. But I live near a park that has kids playing along side people using. I’m just not sure they’re ready for that.
Just keep ignoring the existence of safe injection sites
Address?
Just letting you know im dismissing your "Im anti drug war" comment in the middle of your page long argument for drug war tactics. Does that make sense?
Meow
That's one reason why more progressive areas have safe injection sites. Wanna guess who's generally against those?
Yes. Why hide the world when it's right in front of them? Tall to the child, tell them what is happening and do not imply judgement. Unless you feel the need to talk shit about those with drug addiction, then that's your personal thing but most folks find that kind of thing distasteful since its metaphorically kicking someone while they are stuck in a life they can't get out of. And many do want out, want to quit, but they lack the help and resources to escape. So if you are upset at seeing this and want others to "think of the children", ask yourself what you will do about it?
tHiNk Of TeH kIdS!!!!!!11!!!1!!
It's a relevant point. We don't allow cigarette companies to advertise to children so should it be acceptable to advertise crack or coke?
The ban on tobacco advertisements is a relatively recent thing.
We're inundated with ads for alcohol and pharmaceuticals.
Super unhealthy sugar-filled snacks and breakfast cereals made up like 90% of TV commercials when I was growing up.
Yeah and we need to stop those too.